Application of leeway drift data to predict the drift of panga skiffs: Case study of maritime search and rescue in the tropical pacific

The use of Search and Rescue (SAR) drift forecasting in an operational capacity is demonstrated through two SAR case studies, each predicting the drift of a panga skiff for 120 h (Case 1) and 72 h (Case 2). The leeway characteristics of panga skiffs were previously unknown, until a leeway field study was undertaken in mid-2012 to empirically determine the influence of wind and waves on their drift. As part of the two case studies described herein, four ocean models were used as environmental forcing for a stochastic particle trajectory model, to forecast the drift and resulting search areas for the panga skiffs. Each of the four ocean models were tested individually, and then combined into a consensus forecast to ascertain which ocean model was the most accurate in terms of distance error of modelled positions compared to actual panga skiff locations. Additionally, a hit analysis was undertaken to determine whether the panga skiff was located within the forecast search areas for each ocean model, and for consensus search areas. Finally, an assessment of the search area sizes was carried out to assess the single ocean model forecast search area sizes, and how they compared with the consensus search area size. In both of the case studies, all four ocean model forecast search areas contained the panga skiff at the time intervals tested, indicating a 100% hit rate and general consensus between the ocean models. The consensus search area, where all four ocean models overlapped, was approximately one third the size of the average single model search area. This demonstrates that the consensus search areas provide a more efficient search area compared to individual ocean model search area forecasts.     

From RACs to Advisory Councils: Lessons from North Sea discourse for the 2014 reform of the European Common Fisheries Policy

From RACs to Advisory Councils analyses the discourse of stakeholders engaged in Europe׳s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in a tier of governance known as RACs (Regional Advisory Councils) from 2004 to 2008. The analysis demonstrates a shift towards discursive sharing by participating stakeholders. This fostered inclusion but did not effect a redistribution of the power held by Europe׳s inter-governmental institutions. This more substantive change would require more, and more consistent, discursive consensus from stakeholders. With a reformed CFP for 2014, this paper considers the possibility of a future in which regional stakeholder-based fisheries governance becomes a reality.     

Investigation of the decline of Ulva prolifera in the Subei Shoal and Qingdao based on physiological changes

It has been a scientific consensus that Ulva prolifera green tide that break out annually between May and August in the recent decade off eastern coast of Yello...     

Guidelines for navigation and overflight in the exclusive economic zone

Several significant international incidents in Asian exclusive economic zones (EEZs) have underscored the ambiguity and lack of agreement regarding the regime governing foreign military activities in coastal States’ EEZs. A group of senior officials and analysts participated in their personal capacities in a dialogue from 2002–2005 that discussed the issues with a view to improving mutual understanding of the regime and finding areas of agreement. The Tokyo meeting in September 2005 reached consensus on some voluntary, non-binding guidelines that are presented here. The guidelines are based selectively on the 1982 UNCLOS, State practice and emerging ‘soft’ law, and attempt to balance the interests of coastal States and user States. It is hoped that they may serve as the basis for discussion and eventual agreements between governments.     

Challenges to the use of consensus building in integrated coastal management

An electronic forum involving 15 coastal managers was conducted in order to identify and explain the challenges involved in using consensus-building methods to resolve coastal management issues. The forum's participants generated a list of ten challenges. Getting participants committed to the consensus-building process was identified as the major problem. Participants reported four factors that may affect negatively the willingness of participants to commit to the process. These factors are the novelty of consensus building, the lack of incentive to seek a compromise, the apprehension of having to negotiate and the uncertainty of the outcome. The paper concludes with proposed strategies to overcome these factors.     

Negotiating uncertainty: Framing attitudes,prioritizing issues,and finding consensus in the coral reef environment management “crisis”

Environmental problems are becoming increasingly unwieldy, particularly those which are highly debated because of their political and financial consequences and have been termed as in “crisis”. In coral reef environments, these considerations spill into decisions on mitigation of reef decline and attendant questions of territorial and resource-access rights. Historical foundations of reef science show that early applications of reef inquiries centered on environmental connection and inevitably led to establishing not only the baseline of reef ecosystems, but also contributed to the evolution of conservation crisis in this environment. This work applies Q-methodology towards determining attitudes, prioritizing statements and finding consensus regarding management issues that are tied to the science of coral reef environments and their conservation “crisis”. This work delineates the social construction of attitudes, perceptions, and foundations of coral conservation science by examining the scientifically-grounded statements that constitute conservation debates. Study participants were comprised of the coral reef science and conservation professional network. The Q-sample (n = 43) was structured around some central debates over the dilemmas and strategies of reef management and decline-mitigation, both recent and long-running. Four attitudes or viewpoints were isolated in terms of their preferred management models, geographic perspectives and the role scientific findings play within these core beliefs. These can be generally described as Community and Locally-centered Humanists, Scientific Idealists, Skeptical and Utilitarian Pragmatists, and Politically-oriented Positivists. Evaluating agreement about central issues showed a high degree of consensus regarding the relative importance of community input in the role of successful reef management while the highest degree of contention was seen in scalar issues such as human-environment feedback systems that are inherent in solving environmental crises.     

Coastal planning on the Atlantic fringe,north Norway: the power game

The article describes an on-going struggle between local planning authorities, regional fishery authorities and environmental authorities over the management of the Norwegian coastal zone. Particular reference is made to a recent planning project in Nordland County where 18 peripheral communes with weak planning traditions joined forces to produce structure plans for their coastal areas. Concepts of rationality and power are used as points of departure for an interpretation of the actions of the parties involved. The discursively rational nature of the planning project, embodying principles of consensus building, social integration and personal growth, is contrasted to the strictly instrumental behaviour of regional fishery and environmental authorities. The article also relates conflicts between communes and regional sector authorities to the power structure of the field of coastal management and the habitus of the different institutional actors. The actions of the fishery authorities are seen as a defence of their monopoly of the production of ideology in marine management, while the actions of the communes are interpreted as a bid by the periphery for greater control over local resources.     

Trust in the fisheries scientific community

This paper explores the issue of “trust” in the fisheries science community, a key corollary of effective risk communication. It presents the findings of a survey undertaken in Iceland, Greece, Spain, United Kingdom and Faroe Islands during 2008. The findings reveal differing levels of trust and mistrust in the fisheries science community between countries and between stakeholder groups, demonstrating areas for future attention in the interests of improving fisheries science and management. As this paper explores, unfortunately the “trust” necessary for effective stakeholder cooperation and participation within current fisheries science is currently somewhat lacking. The cited reasons behind this lack of trust include: a lack of soundness, credibility, responsiveness, flexibility and stakeholder involvement, flawed data and weak science, poor communications and political and lobby group interference. Notable from the results is a lack of consensus on the existence of a common language and vision. It is evident, however, that certain aspects of fisheries science are strong contributors to trust and that there are opportunities for improvement.     

A decade of ITQ-management in Icelandic fisheries: consolidation without consensus

Icelandic fisheries have been managed by individual transferable quotas (ITQs) for a decade but there is still no consensus about the quota issue. Distributional effects of ITQs, in terms of income distribution between owner and crew, and the vulnerability of fisheries communities short of quota, have been in the centre of the debate.The author discusses changes in stakeholder involvement in policy-making, conflicts of interest and legal disputes linked to the ITQ-system. By way of conclusion, some options for resolving conflicts and reaching consensus on the fisheries management issue are discussed.     

Stakeholders’ perspective on the sustainable utilization of marine protected areas in Green Island, Taiwan

The management implications of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) cover the interactions and two-way effects between the ecosystem and local residents. Hence, support or resistance from stakeholders is critical to management effectiveness. The inclusion of the perspectives of stakeholders into the MPAs of sustainable utilization can reduce opposition and conflict, improving the effectiveness of MPA management through the input of local residents. This study used interviews, questionnaire surveys, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process to obtain the opinions of different groups regarding the choices and preferences of stakeholders in the assessed factors of the sustainable utilization of MPAs in Green Island, Taiwan. The results showed that the stakeholder groups have a consensus on the “completeness of ecosystems,” “processing of wastes and pollutants,” and “integrated management.” These results provide insight into the varying perspectives held by individual groups, accelerating the integration of different opinions in order to facilitate appropriate solutions and smooth negotiations.     

全球海草的中文命名

海草（seagrass）是地球上唯一一类可以完全生活在海水中的高等被子植物。全球已知海草的种类有70余种,隶属6科13属;中国现有海草22种,隶属4科10属。2014年11月"第十一次国际海草生物学研讨会"（The 11th International Seagrass Biology Workshop）在三亚召开时,国内海草研究专家共同探讨了中国海草的"藻"名更改,并进行了统一命名。然而,国内中文文章在引用非中国海草种类时,同一种海草的中文名称不一致,或者同一属不同的物种以一样的中文名出现,或者用属中文名后接拉丁文方式表达。同时,国外海草的中文名也多以"藻"来命名,容易引起混淆。因此,有必要在中国海草"藻"名更改的基础上,进一步规范全球其他海草的中文命名,以利于国内海草研究。     

Evaluation of policy options for the live reef food fish trade in the province of Palawan,Western Philippines

The live reef food fish (LRFF) trade has an estimated annual retail value of US$1 billion in the Asia-Pacific region and at least US$30 million in the Philippines. Palawan Province is the trade's center accounting for as much as 55% of the commodity's total export. Concern about the LRFF trade has caused the Palawan Provincial government to take action to regulate the trade. Four key policy options to address the short-term policy objective of developing a sustainable LRFF industry through the reduction of threats associated with destructive fishing and overfishing were proposed. These four policy options and associated analyses were presented to stakeholders at three separate policy consultations. The stakeholders reached a consensus that a regulated LRFF trade was the most sensible option. As a result, the Provincial Government of Palawan took action to enact “The Palawan Live Reef Fish Ordinance of 2006”, which provides for the sustainable and integrated regulation of the LRFF industry. This provincial ordinance will assist in crafting a national policy for the LRFF trade and may also be useful in revising the 1998 Philippine Fisheries Code. The key challenge is how to translate the ordinance provisions into effective on-the-ground actions.     

Multiple Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Consensus Control with Unmeasurable Velocity Information and Environmental Disturbances Under Switching Directed Topologies

China Ocean Engineering - A consensus algorithm proposed in the paper is applied to tackle remarkable problems of unmeasurable velocities, the environmental disturbances, and the limited...     

Evaluating collaborative fisheries management planning: A Canadian case study

Governing agencies increasingly employ collaborative forms of decision-making in fisheries management to improve decision quality and legitimacy. However, crafting fair and effective collaborative processes that will achieve these benefits is often difficult. In an effort to identify keys and obstacles to success, this research examined participants’ evaluations of a collaborative planning process in Canada's Pacific groundfish fisheries. Results indicate that an incentive to participate, consensus decision-making, and independent facilitation were essential to ensuring the fairness and effectiveness of the process. Together, these elements motivated agreement while providing security against process manipulation by both participants and governing agencies.     

Evaluation of stakeholder perspectives on the management of the stalked barnacles (Pollicipes pollicipes) resource in the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina,Portugal

The stalked barnacle, Pollicipes pollicipes, is a shellfish resource which has been traditionally harvested by the coastal communities of the Iberian Peninsula. However, in recent years Pollicipes has attracted increased harvesting pressure due to its high market value. In a national park on the south-western coast of Portugal, legislation was formulated to address the overharvesting of this resource; however, its success has been limited due to lack of consensus among stakeholders. A Systems Approach Framework (SAF) was used to assess the socio-economic and cultural issues surrounding the harvest of Pollicipes. As part of this, interviews and a questionnaire survey were undertaken in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, in order to explore the perspectives of the shell fishers, local residents and restaurateurs. The majority of the stakeholders believed that the resource was overharvested and that their needs should be considered as part of the legislation formulation process. The stakeholders also agreed that the local market should be re-established and that the temporal closure period should be reconsidered. Stakeholder opinions differed with regard to the level of coastal management enforcement required, the licence distribution process and the restrictions implemented by national park authorities. It is concluded that using information such as that gathered from local stakeholders, it should be possible to effectively extend the SAF to simulate scenarios for future management options.     

An analysis of critical areas for biodiversity conservation in the Gulf of California Region

This article summarizes the results of a broad regional consulting process aimed to identify critical areas for biodiversity conservation and to determine the relative level of anthropogenic pressure on natural resources throughout the Gulf of California Region. The methodology was designed to achieve broad consensus by means of a highly participative process that involved the following: (1) the independent, but coordinated, work of experts in task groups to integrate all available information on the key ecological and socioeconomic processes, as well as to generate updated inventories of species; (2) a workshop to identify (based mainly on the information gathered during the first stage) the biologically important areas, and to spatially analyze the anthropogenic pressure on biodiversity, as well as the potentiality for social conflicts; and (3) the integration and spatial analysis of the results by means of a geographical information system. Results show that the areas subject to high anthropogenic pressure coincide with the areas of biological importance. It is expected that the information ensuing from this exercise will help the stakeholders to develop a meaningful conservation portfolio.     

Marine ecosystem-based management in the Southern Cone of South America: Stakeholder perceptions and lessons for implementation

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has recently received considerable attention. However, examples of empirical approaches to marine EBM are scarce. Therefore, empirical information on the presence of EBM elements within existing policies and the way they may provide settings and lessons for EBM implementation is timely. This study analyses stakeholders’ perceptions on the existence of EBM principles in current marine management practices and policies, and how they determine perceptions for success and satisfaction regarding coastal management within selected case studies drawn from four developing countries in the Southern Cone of South America. Patterns of response across study sites show that although EBM principles as such are not explicitly included in management/conservation plans, there are policies (mainly local), which generate conditions for more explicit inclusion of them. These are based on participatory bottom-up planning, place-based management and consensus reaching: all elements included within the theoretical literature on EBM implementation.     

The Hogarth initiative on the future of the International Whaling Commission

Dr Bill Hogarth of the USA was the Chairman of the International Whaling Commission from 2006 to 2009. In a typical masterpiece of understatement, at the beginning of his term, he launched an initiative to reform the IWC with the words “it would be useful for the Commission to have a general discussion concerning the future of the IWC, given…the number of issues for which polarisation rather than consensus appears to be the norm”. This paper follows his initiative through three annual, and two intersessional meetings of the IWC, commenting on the major issues and events as well as the actions of the main players. It concludes with an analysis of the results of the initiative, and makes some predictions for the future of the IWC.